Tour of Poland: BMC hatrick as Hushovd Wins Again

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Stage 5: Norwegian road champion Thor Hushovd powered past Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ.fr) and Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) to take his second stage win at the Tour of Poland

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Stage 5: Norwegian road champion Thor Hushovd powered past Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ.fr) and Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) to take his second stage win at the Tour of Poland, his fifth victory of the season and BMC Racing Team’s third straight at the race.

Hushovd, who also took the lead in the Sprint classification, said when the final breakaway of the 160.5-kilometer race was reeled in with five kilometers to go, he was poised to deliver the BMC Racing Team’s 19th win of the year.

“For sure, the sprint was a perfect one for me,” he said. “I knew if the group came back, I would have a good chance. The last climb was hard, but the team did a good job and everyone was working well together like we have been the whole race.”

The three straight stage wins ties a team record set last month when Hushovd (Stage 3) and Mathias Frank (Stages 4 and 5) won three in-a-row at the Tour of Austria. It was also the BMC Racing Team’s sixth win in the past 11 days, a stretch that includes three victories last week by Greg Van Avermaet at the Tour de Wallonie, Hushovd’s win on Stage 3 on Tuesday and Wednesday’s solo victory by Taylor Phinney.

“We are a really good group here,” Hushovd said. “We are enjoying racing together and when the ball first starts rolling, it doesn’t stop and everything goes well. We don’t have any pressure. We just do our jobs and the rest comes along.”

BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Fabio Baldato said having Frank as part of an early breakaway that was only brought back in the final 26 km took pressure off the team. “We knew this would be a difficult day to control because the stage was not so hard and because of that we were focused on putting someone in the break,” he said.

“Mathias was the guy I asked and he did an amazing job.” When six riders escaped the peloton again with 19 km left, BMC Racing Team’s Marco Pinotti and Phinney helped with the chase to bring them back. The final piece of teamwork was put on the shoulders of Italian road champion Ivan Santaromita, who escorted Hushovd up the final climb and helped bring him to the final kilometre.

“All the guys were fantastic again today,” Baldato said. With two days to go, the overall lead changed hands with Jon Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) using a time bonus to overtake Rafa Majka (Team Saxo-Tinkoff). Santaromita (14th, 1:24 behind) is the BMC Racing Team’s best-placed rider overall.

1 HUSHOVD Thor BMC Racing Team 03:54:40
2 LADAGNOUS Matthieu Equipe Cycliste FDJ.fr @ st
3 RATTO Daniele Cannondale Pro Cycling Team @ st
4 MEZGEC Luka Team Argos – Shimano @ st
5 TANNER David Belkin Pro Cycling Team @ st
6 HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis Sky Procycling @ st
7 ULISSI Diego Lampre – Merida @ st
8 RIBLON Christophe AG2R La Mondiale @ st
9 JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt Team Argos – Shimano @ st
10 PREIDLER Georg Team Argos – Shimano @ st
11 REBELLIN Davide CCC Polsat Polkowice @ st
12 POZZOVIVO Domenico AG2R La Mondiale @ st
13 IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI Ion Euskaltel – Euskadi @ st
14 MAJKA Rafal Team Saxo-Tinkoff @ st
15 WEENING Pieter Orica GreenEDGE @ st
16 HERMANS Ben RadioShack – Leopard @ st
17 KRUIJSWIJK Steven Belkin Pro Cycling Team @ st
18 ROHREGGER Thomas RadioShack – Leopard @ st
19 HOWES Alex Garmin – Sharp @ st
20 CAPECCHI Eros Movistar Team @ st

56 VOSS Paul Team NetApp – Endura 00:35
67 NIBALI Vincenzo Astana Pro Team 03:19
68 CANCELLARA Fabian RadioShack – Leopard @ st
73 PHINNEY Taylor BMC Racing Team 05:15
74 HOWARD Leigh Orica GreenEDGE 05:40
75 PINOTTI Marco BMC Racing Team @ st
79 WIGGINS Bradley Sky Procycling @ st
107 SWIFT Ben Sky Procycling 11:27

 

 

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